Tips For Successfully Expanding Your Business In 2014

As a business owner, you may have fallen into the trap of believing that your business will continue to maintain a sense of stability. You may be comfortable, for example, with the number of customers and employees that you currently have.

I would suggest that such an approach is unlikely to pay dividends over time. The reality of any business environment is such that a failure to expand and progress almost inevitably leads to a situation where your rivals are making headway. In essence, the danger is that you will be left behind. By attempting to stand still, the reality is that you are actually seeing your business head backwards.

So how can you attempt to make the changes that are necessary, in order to receive better results? As we approach the end of the year, I think that this is a fantastic time to give consideration to how improvements can be made next year. It’s my belief that almost any business has the opportunities available for bringing about an expansion. It’s really just a question of putting a plan in place and then following it through.

I’d like to offer some simple tips on improving the situation for your business:

Plan to succeed

I’m a great believer in the importance of having the right mindset in place. In short, it’s always been my feeling that a negative thought process will almost always lead to negative results.

If you spend your time thinking about the difficulties that you are facing on a daily basis and believing that everything will end disastrously, then the sad reality is that you are looking at a self-fulfilling prophecy. The chances are that things will go as badly as you imagine.

But there is also, however, another way of thinking about your situation. If you truly believe that you will find business success in 2014, then there’s no reason why this shouldn’t happen for you. I would always recommend to other people that they should begin by demonstrating that they have the confidence levels that are required.

What does this mean, in practical terms? What I would suggest is that you outline a clear, written plan of how you are going to produce improvements next year. As you do so, you will be doing more than outlining a plan for success: you will be showing that you have the belief that things will change for the better.

Start looking for new premises

As your business expands, it’s clear that you will be in need of larger premises. You should see this as being a real positive and there’s nothing to inspire the mind more than starting to examine the possibilities. Although I’m not suggesting that you should get as far as hiring an office removals firm right now, I certainly don’t see the problem with pursuing this approach.

Isn’t there a danger here that you will be falling into the trap of indulging yourself in something of a fantasy? That’s certainly a problem that needs to be avoided, though it’s my belief that a little bit of dreaming does little harm.

Hire better people

How do you feel about the salaries that you pay to your employees? I also find it interesting to note that entrepreneurs often feel that employees are being paid too much. Frequently, this seems to be an area where it seems like savings can be made.

I’d like to offer an alternative view here: you should be pleased to be spending big on salaries. Although this may not seem to make an enormous amount of sense, my argument would be that the best businesses usually enjoy the very best people. That’s not something that I see as being a coincidence.

Embrace the power of social media

Gone are the days when a presence on Twitter or Facebook seemed like something of a luxury. The truth is that you simply must engage via social media, if you are truly looking to expand your business.

A significant proportion of your potential customers will simply expect to find that you are active on such channels. If you make the choice not to be, then you are simply handing the advantage to your key competitors.

Engaging via social media doesn’t mean spending endless hours, or understanding the intricacies of the software that’s involved. What it does mean, on the other hand, is spending the time that’s necessary to get to grips with these networks. You really can’t afford to be left behind in this particular race.

I believe that you can experience business success in 2014, but do you have the same level of belief?

Simon Barnett advises many small business owners on how to produce better outcomes. He’s often amazed by the impact of positive thinking, when combined with practical decision-making.

Thomas Ballantyne is the Director of Marketing with Bulwark Exterminating, an industry leader in providing high quality pest control service. Bulwark is fully operational in seven states, including twelve major cities. While Bulwark provides pest extermination for common insects such as ants, roaches, crickets and spiders, the companyâ€™s differentiating aspect is great personalized service. Bulwark uses the finest and most effective products in the world to solve common pest problems.